Why Hamilton still has full faith in Mercedes

“How he appears to me is he is in great form, very positive, motivated, energised,” said team boss Toto Wolff of Hamilton. “Maybe the best so far I’ve seen in those 10 years after the winter? And he knows what he has with the team.

“We won eight constructors’ titles in a row – and I’m not saying anything that you don’t know – and we got it wrong last year. So the capability is there, and we just need to continue to develop like we’ve done last season. I don’t think it plays in Lewis’ mind, any doubt that the team can perform.”

Wolff said often last year that you learn in adversity, and thus the struggles with the W13 would only make the team stronger in the long run. It’s a philosophy that Hamilton agrees with.

“Well, I think ultimately, and it applies to everything in life and every genre of job, through difficult times, through failure, is where you gain the most strength,” said the former champion.

“That’s when you have to analyse and be critical of yourself. And that’s for sure the time that you grow stronger. So last year was a year of strengthening for us, even though from the outside, it was not a great year for us.

“But I think it was a time when we all had to dig deeper. If you look at just everyone showing their vulnerable side, everyone having to deal with the failure in their own way, but also as a team.

“And so I do think that I’m proud of how we got through it. And I’m proud of how we came together. And I do think that it set us up for a much, much better future. We’ve had to change things back in the factory in how we do things, and how we go about things, which I think will help us in the long run.”

It’s not just the team that has learned. One of Hamilton’s great strengths is that he has never rested on his laurels, and he has evolved as a driver both on and off track over the years.

“If I was doing something differently, I wouldn’t tell you necessarily!,” he joked. “I think not only do we have to look at ourselves as a team and how we function, but ultimately, I’m hired by the team.

“I have to look at how I operate, how I communicate, how I use my time and how I deliver results. So I continue to be very critical of myself to be able to understand where the bar is. The goalposts are moving all the time.

“But how you can evolve as a driver, that’s something I’m very, very focused on. I’ve done more simulator running than I’ve ever done for the past 18 months. More time with the engineers, more going over data, and just continuously looking to see how you can evolve as a driver.

“And on the other side of things it’s the mental and the physical side, just continuing to try to evolve, working with different people.

“I don’t want to highlight what areas, but just on the physical and mental side of things there’s so much great research out there of how you can advance your body, how you can be more focused, and practices that you can take into your daily life.

“So there’s things like that that I’ve been working on trying to adopt. And yeah, we’ll see how that works.”

As well as general life lessons for management, personnel and the drivers a lot of solid engineering knowledge was gained by Mercedes last year as the team tried to get to the bottom of the weaknesses of the W13, a process that was complicated by the cost cap and the tight aero testing restrictions.

All of that fed into development of the W14. Fundamental flaws that were built into its predecessor and which could not be rectified within last year have now been addressed, and hopefully the results will be seen on track.

“It’s pretty much everything,” said Hamilton of the areas of focus. “Every element from the tip of the back to the tip of the front. It’s mostly characteristics of how the car behaves. And last year’s car didn’t behave like a racing car should.

“And that took away confidence for the drivers. And so we’ve gone through, over and over and over again throughout the year, the things that we wanted changing. And we believe those have been addressed. But once we get in the car, we’ll know exactly just how much they’ve been addressed, and whether there’s still more to do.”

So, was there anything useful in the unloved W13 that Hamilton would like to retain?

“Our long-run pace was very strong last year, I think that was our race pace was always stronger,” he noted.

“And also reliability. So those two are the things I think that we definitely want to hold on to. But all the other stuff we want to really reinvent, redesign, and hopefully we will see a more efficient car.”

An intriguing aspect of today’s launch was Wolff’s revelation that while the launch car appeared with a development of last year’s slim sidepods, that is set to change during the season, although he wouldn’t put a date on when any change of aero approach might hit the track.

The team clearly has an aggressive development route that it intends to pursue, within those aforementioned constraints in the rules, and Hamilton has faith in it.

“Everyone in the team wants to win,” he said. “There is a strategy, there is a development plan. It’s been explained to us in detail, and I have full trust in in the team. But as I said, it’s not until we get the car on the road and we figure out what it’s doing and where the limitations can we then steer the rudder and develop in that direction.

“But the great thing is we’ve got I think two strong drivers, and we both have a similar kind of driving style. So it’ll be clear, straight away, I think, if there are issues, what those will be. And I think the guys understand the car much more to be able to deal with it.”

The fact that the team kept its much talked about sidepod design, even if does turn out to be just for the first part of the season, is a reminder that this a team that has faith in its own numbers.

Despite last year’s dip in their collective fortunes Hamilton still has full faith in the people who helped him to six titles.

“I don’t believe we’ve ever been a team that copied other people,” said Hamilton. “We’ve always been of our own mind, and always been a team that’s incredibly creative and innovative, and like to do it our way.

“And I think it has worked in the past. Of course, you see, like some of the cars, a lot of them are converging to what a Red Bull perhaps, will look like. Except for Ferrari maybe.

“Last year we arrived, and we were like, damn, that was quick. It wasn’t, with all the issues that we had. And then coming into another season, with a car that’s kind of similar looking in many respects, because some of the elements are really hard to change, but you just have to have the confidence in the engineers, and I do.

“So we’re sticking with it, we’re going with it, and I hope that it has the characteristics that we’ve asked for. But if not, then we’ll find a way. I think the job of the engineers and the designers is to come up with solutions.

“And so we’re prepared for, ‘what if?’ The difficult thing is don’t have a crystal ball. So you never know what is up ahead. But all you can do is prepare yourself and be present, and just work diligently towards solving whatever issue it is.”